"Les cygnes" - Lithographie originale sur Japon - L'Estampe Moderne

Rare original color lithograph, executed by Francis Jourdain for L'Estampe Moderne, series number 18 published in October 1898.
One of 50 deluxe proofs printed on Japan paper with wide margins, publisher's dry stamp representing a child's profile in lower margin, numbered stamp of the deluxe issue on verso; engraving preceded by a tissue guard with the artist's name, title, and a poem.
Lithograph inspired by the poem Les Cygnes by Léon Dierx, reproduced on the print's tissue guard.
Magnificent French monthly publication edited between May 1897 and April 1899, L'Estampe moderne consists of original chromolithographs which, unlike other reviews such as Les Maîtres de l'Affiche and as stipulated on the tissue guards, were created specifically by each artist for the review. Thus 100 prints appeared in total, covering the major artistic movements of the late 19th century: Symbolism, Art Nouveau, Pre-Raphaelites, Orientalists and Belle Époque. Each delivery of four prints was issued in 2000 copies sold for 3.50F and 100 on Japan paper offered at 10F. Henri Piazza also planned a confidential deluxe issue: 50 copies on Japan paper with wide margins and 50 in black on China paper at the considerable price of 30F.
This print in a beautiful format is superbly printed on the most prestigious of papers: Japan paper. Thick, silky, satin-finished and pearlescent, it contributes to making each page a work in its own right. Its ink absorption quality and affinity with colors also make it the ideal support for these very beautiful lithographs.
French collectors' interest in artistic posters grew in the early 1890s. Octave Uzanne, to qualify this fever, invented the term "affichomanie." The poster, originally popular and pasted in the streets of the capital, then became an art object and its ephemeral medium became precious and destined for preservation.
Piazza decided to remove the poster from its advertising purpose and elevate it to the rank of a complete work of art on the same level as the illustrated deluxe book. He thus composed a prestigious collection of entirely original works by the most prominent European artists of the moment: Georges de Feure, Eugène Grasset, Henri Detouche, Emile Berchmans, Louis Rhead, Gaston de Latenay, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Gustave-Max Stevens, Charles Doudelet, Hans Christiansen, Henri Fantin-Latour, Steinlen, Ibels, Engels, Willette, Henri Meunier, Evenepoël, Bellery-Desfontaines, Charles Léandre, etc.
Fine copy in Art Nouveau style.